But in modern times the car is truly unique – the futuristic Ikarus-55 was produced in Hungary from 1953 to 1972, and in the USSR such intercity buses were used only until the early 1980s, when they were replaced by well-known models of the “two hundredth” family. One of the surviving Ikarus-55s restored the Moscow Museum of Transport.
“An important task of the restoration work was to give the bus back its authentic look. The missing parts were made according to the surviving drawings and the painting was carried out in accordance with archival photos and diagrams, which made it possible to determine and restore the original green color of the bus. Damaged parts of the body and interior of the exhibits were replaced with authentic ones. According to the surviving original samples, the lampshades have been restored,” said Oksana Bondarenko, director of the Moscow Museum of Transport.
At one time, this “fifty-fifth” served as public transport on the roads of the GDR, the signs in the cabin in German speak about this. And in Moscow he ended up in the early 1990s – a social security institution bought a bus for the transport of passengers with reduced mobility. In general, in the capital, such cars were used for adapted transport, as officially there were also scheduled cars coming from neighboring cities.
People called Ikarus-55 “Sputnik”, “Rocket”, “Vacuum Cleaner” (for a noisy engine and resemblance to the “Rocket” vacuum cleaner), and the unusual back gave two more nicknames – “Cupboard” and “Pike”. And these buses were considered very reliable and drove more than a million kilometers without major repairs.
The press service of the Moscow Museum of Transport reports that the bus will be included in the permanent exhibition of the museum and will be presented at the end of 2024 on the 1st floor of the Melnikov garage on Novoryazanskaya Street, 27.
- Ikarus was one of the six foreign cars that we remember well from the USSR.
- “Behind the Wheel” can be seen on RuTube.